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  Mr Finchley Discovers His England

  Victor Canning

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  Mr Edgar Finchley, unmarried clerk, aged 45, is told to take a holiday for the first time in his life. He decides to go to the seaside. But Fate has other plans in store… 
  From his abduction by a cheerful crook, to his smuggling escapade off the south coast, the timid but plucky Mr Finchley is plunged into a series of the most astonishing and extraordinary adventures. 
  His rural adventure takes him gradually westward through the English countryside and back, via a smuggling yacht, to London. 
  This gentle comedy trilogy was a runaway bestseller on first publication in the 1930s and retains a timeless appeal today. It has been dramatized twice for BBC Radio, with the 1990 series regularly repeated.What people are saying about the Mr Finchley series: 
  ‘Wonderful character from a kinder slower England between the wars.’ 
  ‘An overlooked gem. An innocent picaresque novel set in an arcadian version of mid 20th century England. The literary equivalent of naive painting, it narrates the adventures of a respectable upper middle-aged man who takes retirement.’ 
  ‘An antidote to the rush of the early 21st century.’ 
  ‘A thoroughly enjoyable stroll through a vanished England with some lovable characters. Don't expect modern, fashionable agonisings, here there is good, evil, and understanding. A lovely reminiscent wallow of a read.’ 
  ‘Gentle well told simple story, full of pleasant surprises, and a mild mannered believable hero. Loved it to bits.’ 
  ‘So gentle, it hurts.’ 
  ‘There is a freshness about the writing which is charming and that disarms criticism. Don't expect any great profundities, a gripping plot or inter-character tensions - these books are of the world of Billy Bunter and William Brown - but do expect a very well-written and enjoyable romp through early twentieth-century England in the company of an engaging protagonist.’ 
  ‘A delightful story of a man who finds himself jolted out of his comfort zone and taken on a journey beyond his wildest imaginings.’ 
  ‘Another lovely book detailing the adventures of Mr Finchley in altogether far too short a series. Full of humour and a book I was sorry to finish as I wanted it to go on and on.’ 
  ‘Highly recommended for anyone seeking an entertaining amusing read.’ 
  ‘A delight to be transported to an England I never knew despite growing up in the 1950s and to experience the countryside through the sharp eyes of the author who obviously had a great love of all things rural.’Editorial reviews: 
  ‘Quite delightful, with an atmosphere of quiet contentment and humour that cannot fail to charm … The longer we travel with Mr Finchley, the better we come to love him. He makes us share his bread and cheese, and beer and pipe. His delight at the beauties of the countryside and his mild astonishment at the strange ways of men are infectious.’ Daily Telegraph 
  ‘His gift of story-telling is obviously innate. Rarely does one come on so satisfying an amalgam of plot, characterisation and good writing.’ Punch 
  ‘A paean to the beauties

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  James the Connoisseur Cat - A Novel

  Harriet Hahn

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  The delightful crime-solving and aristocratic social adventures of an American  antiques expert and a British feline with finesse  It’s love at first sight when a businessman visiting London meets a silver-gray cat named James in the lobby of his apartment house. The two begin meeting regularly for cocktails—single-malt whiskey, neat, for James—and attending posh parties, where James first makes a name for himself by cracking the case of a priceless jewel scam. Soon James is on the prowl, deterring pickpockets on the subway and ferreting out stamp forgeries and counterfeit paintings. In between crime capers, he screens potential tenants, spends the holidays at an ancestral estate in Devon where the crème de la crème of British society anoints him Sir James, and indulges in his penchants for pâté de fois gras and matchmaking with inimitable panache.James the Connoisseur Cat is the 1st book in the Connoisseur Cat novels, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

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  The Harry Bogen Novels - I Can...

  Jerome Weidman

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  Meet one of the most unscrupulous businessmen in American literature—from a New York Times–bestselling novelist and Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright.   Set in Manhattan’s garment district, Jerome Weidman’s debut novel, I Can Get It for You Wholesale, was a scathing satire of capitalist greed as personified by the shameless scoundrel Harry Bogen, who “became an archetypal figure in American literature: the abrasive young man who would do anything to get ahead” (The New York Times).   Weidman’s prose was praised by no less than F. Scott Fitzgerald, who called the book “[a] break-through into completely new and fresh literary terrain; a turning point in the American novel,” and Ernest Hemingway, who enthused: “I think [Weidman] can write just a little better than anybody else that’s around.” The book was a sensation and spawned an “equally hard-driving” sequel, What’s in It for Me?, as well as a movie version and a musical starring Elliott Gould as Harry and featuring Barbra Streisand’s Broadway debut (The New York Times).   As relevant today as when they were first published in the 1930s, both novels are now available in a single volume, featuring a foreword by Alistair Cooke.  I Can Get It for You Wholesale: The stage for this savagely comic novel is Manhattan’s cutthroat garment district, where six thousand manufacturers of dresses are crammed into a few blocks. Their factories are cramped, noisy, and incredibly profitable—and Harry Bogen is going to take them for all they’re worth. A classic conniver, he knows that it’s easier, and a hell of a lot more fun, to turn a buck by lying than by telling the truth. First he convinces the shipping clerks—the pack animals of the garment industry—to go on strike. With the dress manufacturers brought to their knees, Harry will be there to pick them up again. His conscience might be conflicted, if he had one in the first place.   “A slick job of writing, as hard-boiled as a twelve-minute egg.” —The New York Times  What’s in It for Me?: In this sharp-witted sequel, Harry Bogen is again up to his old tricks. After Harry built his empire and became king of the garment district, he blew it up, leaving his partners in jail and securing the whole of the fortune for himself. It takes only three months for Harry to find that retirement does not suit him. His latest scheme starts with an order for one thousand dresses, bought at cut-rate price from a vendor who can’t afford not to sell. From there, Harry raises the stakes, juggling deals and spinning stories as fast as he possibly can. Will he secure himself fortune everlasting, or will this Napoleon meet his Waterloo?

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  The Becket List Volume II - Even...

  Henry Becket

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  A sequel to the original and highly therapeutic "Becket List"...a compendium of the trivial but oh-so-phenomenally-irritating things that bedevil everyday life. Here you will find that you are not alone in having issues with phrases like - well - "having issues with", as well as supposedly inanimate objects like carparks, newfangled doorhandles and badly translated menus...not to mention other people's behaviour, like the way that French drivers negotiate roundabouts or that dramatic chewing gum masticators advertise their enjoyment.

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  Nowhere - A Novel

  Thomas Berger

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  Detective Russel Wren takes a case in what just might be the oddest country on earthA phone call warning of a bomb threat is all Detective Russel Wren needs to get out the door. He makes it to the next block before an enormous explosion destroys his entire building. Without his Manhattan office, Wren finds himself forced to accept a strange mission to the tiny central European nation of Saint Sebastian.  Saint Sebastian is unlike any country Wren has ever seen, and as his stay there continues, its oddities merely multiply: blond-haired citizens are consigned to the underclass; rudeness is a capital crime; and the Ministry of Clams is the go-to for any problem that can’t be solved by the Ministries of Hoaxes, Disaffection, Irony, or Allergies. No matter where Wren finds himself, he stumbles upon something puzzling, hilarious, and extraordinary—all leading up to a stunning turn of events. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Thomas Berger including rare images and never-before-seen documents from the author’s personal collection.

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  The Three Fates of Henrik...

  Christopher Meades

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  Longing to break out of his dreary existence, Henrik Nordmark — a bald, middle-aged security guard with few friends and no romantic possibilities — is determined to experienceone moment of inimitable distinction, even if it kills him. His quest for authentic experience leads him to the throes of addiction, virtuous recovery, and disenchanted notoriety as a public menace. When his attempts at courtship and romance falter, he inadvertently becomes the target of a team of elderly assassins — one blind, one deaf, and the other mute. Alongside his impulsive young office mate Roland, who chucks everything in the mistaken belief that he has won the lottery, Henrik becomes entangled with a pair of star-crossed, disenchanted lovebirds named Bonnie and Clyde who now want to kill each other. The comic hysteria reaches a crescendo in which Henrik finally realizes his purpose on earth.

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